Important conference scheduled on Lyme Disease

An impressive list of speakers will participate in an April 29 conference on Lyme disease at the Wiscasset Community Center (242 Gardiner Road). And the really good news is that the conference is free and open to the public. All you need to do is show up for the conference which goes from 8 am to 5 pm.

My columns on Lyme draw lots of readers, so I know you are concerned about this growing problem, as I am. I encourage you to read this article from a recent edition of the Working Waterfront’s newsletter (a publication of the Island Institute) about ticks and Lyme disease on Maine’s islands.

The Wiscasset conference is sponsored by the Midcoast Lyme Support & Education group, a super-active organization that supplies me with lots of important news and information.

The keynote speaker at the conference is Dr. Kenneth Leigner from Pawling, New York. Dr. Liegner has been very active in diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease and related disorders since 1988. Among other things, he’ll talk about his advocacy for improved methods of diagnosis and treatment of Lyme in all its stages.

Other speakers include Lori Dennis, a psychologist, Brandi Dean of the Dean Center for Tick-borne Illness, and Jordan Fisher Smith, an actor, author and speaker. More than 40 Lyme and tick-related vendors will also be there. I probably don’t have to tell you that Lyme and other tick-borne diseases are spreading throughout Maine. Paula Jackson Jones and Angele Rice, the cofounders of the Midcoast Association, both have suffered from Lyme disease.

Jackson Jones spent two years and went to 23 medical providers and specialists before she received her official diagnoses, which led to five years of treatment. Rice was misdiagnosed as a teenager, and now, in her late 30s, is still in treatment. I’m sure their personal stories will be an important part of the conference.

475 people attended last year’s conference, from all over the country. Yes, this is a very important event.

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About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters.
Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014.
In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.

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George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters.
Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014.
In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.